Where Lost Things Go | ✓

【拾陆】THE ICE CRACKED

chapter 16.
the ice cracked

࿏ ࿏ ࿏

ASHER WANTED TO punch something.

The week had passed by without a word from Reagan.

There was a noticeable absence next to Molly whenever he and Jayden met with her. Most days, Asher sat in silence, gazing out at the courtyard, hoping to catch a glance of Reagan's wavy dark hair under the sun. Without her there, Asher didn't particularly feel like being around anyone anymore.

"Have you seen her lately?" Asher asked, uninterested in the conversation otherwise.

Molly sighed and leaned into Jayden, "No. She hasn't responded to my calls either. Did something happen?"

"I don't know," Asher mumbled. "I think we got into a fight. Or something."

Their other friend, Kate, who Asher had rarely ever talked to chimed in, "Is that why she snapped at me? She told me to shut up the other day in such a scary tone." Kate shivered, "She shows up to class but doesn't talk to me anymore. I hope she's okay. I've never seen her like this before."

"Just give her some space," Molly said. "She'll come around."

But Asher didn't want to wait for her to 'come around'. He realized even though these people were her friends, they didn't know her the way he did.

People who go out of their way to be alone don't really want to be alone.

Asher didn't want Reagan to be alone. He wanted to see her, even if it was just for her to yell at him again.

That Saturday, he went to the library and nearly cheered when he saw her there. She was sitting behind the counter as she always did, head ducked in her work. It was such a familiar sight, but that day, it felt different. He admired her from outside the library glass windows, frowning when he saw her bury her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook slightly and Asher felt his heart sink.

It pained him that he couldn't understand the sadness that haunted her all this time.

He wanted to talk to her, but he was scared of another rejection. He was nervous about what kind of look would be in her eyes when she pushed him away again. So he waited outside with a cup of coffee meant for her, still holding onto it even when the ice melted. When 6 PM rolled around and she left the library, Asher hid behind the tree.

He trailed behind her, watching her from afar to make sure she got home safe. They had always walked these streets together, anyways.

But she turned, making a detour for the park, and curiosity got the best of Asher.

When he saw her sitting alone at the top of the hill, hugging her legs close, he couldn't keep his distance any longer. He needed to hear her again, because he was tired of hearing the harshness in the last words she said to him replay in his mind day after day.

He walked up the hill, heart thumping the closer he got to her small, crying form.

He gently touched the top of her head. Just a brush. Nothing more.

She looked up at him, and his heart cracked at the glassy sadness in her dark eyes.

"Hi," he said softly as he sat down. 

He didn't expect a reply and he didn't receive one. He sat with her, satisfied to just be in her presence after a week without it.

There was an air of sadness around her.